Jammu & Kashmir secretariat reopens today in winter capital

Jammu: The main Jammu and Kashmir government apparatus would start functioning from Monday in the winter capital of Jammu following 'Darbar Move,’ or the bi-annual shifting of the civil secretariat, Assembly and Raj Bhawan in keeping with an over 140-year-old practice.

Offices of the civil secretariat, the Raj Bhawan, Assembly and the state police chief will from Monday be based in Jammu for the next six months, officials said.

Tight security measures have been put in place for the reopening of the offices with prohibitory orders having been imposed around the secretariat in view of reports that several organizations were planning anti-government rallies in the city, they said.

The 'Darbar Move' practice was started by the erstwhile Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1872 as an arrangement to beat the extreme weather conditions in Jammu during summer and in Srinagar for winter.

'Darbar Move' entails the state government functioning for six months each in the two capitals.

Over 5,300 staffers and truckloads of records were shifted from Srinagar to Jammu as part of 'Darbar Move.’ More than Rs10 crore was spent on affecting the shift.

The secretariat and other J&K government offices had closed in Srinagar, the summer capital, on October 25.

J&K state transport department had arranged to move the employees and materials on October 26 and 27 with the Kashmir-based employees having been shifted on November 2 and 3, officials added. As many as 150 trucks and 50 mini- buses were deployed for the purpose, they said.

Movement of army and other paramilitary forces' convoys had been halted those four move days to facilitate smooth movement of the vehicles pressed into service for the 'Darbar.’